Releases in September include She’s Sweetest When She’s Naked, flute music from 18th century Scotland performed by flutist Alison Melville; D’Anglebert’s Pièces de clavecin performed by harpsichordist Hank Knox; From Bach to Mozart: Following the Path of the Trio Sonata; Vivaldi flute and bassoon concertos, and Telemann’s Les trésors caches performed by the Arion Baroque Orchestra

“As always, Alison Melville’s playing is exquisitely executed with warmth, wit and tenderness…these airs, dance tunes, variations and sonatas are performed with the grace, humor and touching sensitivity inherent in the music.” - The WholeNote

A collection of Scottish music from the 18th century, She’s Sweetest When She’s Naked is the brainchild of Baroque flutist Alison Melville. The collection and preservation of Scots tunes began during the 17th century following Scotland’s union with England. Scotland wanted to protect its cultural heritage, a large part of which existed in the traditional music that had been passed down through many generations. “It was many years ago when I first began exploring eighteenth-century Scottish music”, said Melville. “Having been steeped in the more typical Baroque repertoire for my instruments, I was always on the lookout for more esoteric musical fare; and as a first-generation Canadian with ancestry in Glasgow and Dundee, perhaps it was genetic.” Ms. Melville’s curiosity resulted in a recording to be released by early-music.com on September 30 that explores how these traditional songs would have sounded when played three centuries ago, on instruments like the flute, recorder, harpsichord, guitar, baroque cello and bodhrán.

Including songs from James Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion (a multi-volume collection of Scots tunes for violin or flute solo published between 1742 and 1759), The Braes of Ballandyne from Edward Miller’s flute instruction method of 1799, Nicola Matteis’ Ayrs for the Violin (1685), and an anonymous 18th century song “Goodnight and God be with you”, from the National Library of Scotland, the music on She’s Sweetest When She’s Naked is true evidence of the virtually non-existent gap between what was 18th century ‘art’ and traditional music.

Now active as one of North America’s leading performers on historical flutes, Toronto-born Alison Melville has performed across Canada and the USA, New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, and Europe. With extensive television, film and radio performance credits, Alison can also be heard on over 40 CD recordings, including four internationally acclaimed solo recordings. She has been Assistant Professor of Recorder at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music since 1999.

Composer and court harpsichordist to King Louis XIV, J. Henry D’Anglebert also holds the distinction of having the first printed music in France to contain a table of ornaments as well as their realizations. Published by the D’Anglebert in 1689, Pièces de clavecin contains 57 pieces grouped into four suites. The collection remained widely-regarded for years after its publication and its table of ornaments served as a model for many composers in France and abroad. On this early-music.com recording, critically-acclaimed harpsichordist and recitalist Hank Knox performs pieces from three of the four suites on a reproduction of a 1768 Albertus Delin upright harpsichord.After studying harpsichord in Montreal and Paris, Hank Knox went on to become an accomplished recitalist, chamber musician, and continuo player. He is a founding member of Ensemble Arion, with whom he has toured extensively. He also has performed with ensembles such as Tafelmusik, the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, as well as with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Hank Knox directs the Early Music program at McGill University, where he teaches harpsichord and figured bass accompaniment, coaches chamber music ensembles, and conducts the McGill Baroque Orchestra. He has been a William Dawson Scholar in recognition of his work in Early Music since 2003, and was awarded the Thomas Binkley prize for an outstanding university collegium director by Early Music America in 2008.

Early-music.com is dedicated to the promotion of the best early music performance artists in the world. Launched in 1998, early-music.com was founded with the intention of encouraging the appreciation of historically informed performance of music written in the 17th and 18th centuries played on period instruments, while also offering a platform on which member artists can communicate biographies and concert schedules on the early-music.com website.